WOW! When I posted my Power of a Praying Friend blog in the wee hours of Friday morning, I had no idea that so many of you would join me. I hoped that 25-50 would commit to pray, but boy did God have bigger plans. As I write this post, there have been 335 comments with prayer requests and prayers for each other.
I LOVE praying for you and reading how you are praying for each other. It's a beautiful thing to see women from all around the world gather in Jesus' Name to encourage, support and carry each others' burdens. My prayer is that your courageous renderings of your heart desires and personal needs will forge friendships despite miles that separate us because of God's Spirit that connects us!
Today I wanted to share about the power of praying God's Word. My prayers used to feel kind of flat. I didn't really know what to say and I stumbled over my words a lot. I especially didn't know what to pray when I was struggling or when friends were going through really hard times. I wanted my prayers to be filled with power, hope and faith to believe that the God I was talking to was big enough to accomplish the things I was asking for.
Soon after I became a Christian, a friend who was mentoring me taught me the power of praying God's Word. She shared that when we pray God's Word, we pray God's will. I really liked that idea. It gave me a sense of confidence and God's direction.
The Bible tells us that God's Word is alive and active. When we pray in agreement with His Word, we pray in agreement with God's will, expecting it to come alive in a specific situation and active in the person's life that we're praying for. Here are some verses that I like to pray for myself or for a friend:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give ___________the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that ____________may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of _____________'s heart may be enlightened in order that ____________may know the hope to which he has called her, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 1:17-20
May the God of hope fill __________ with all joy and peace as ___________trusts in him, so that _______________may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
So, what is a verse you could pray for your prayer partner? If you want to find a verse on a specific topic, go to this page on BibleGateway and click on Keyword in the left margin, then type in a keyword you want to search on. (For instance, if I had typed in hope, the two verses listed above would have come up.) When you type in your keyword and hit enter, several verses will come up and you can choose the one that best fits. Then come back and post the verse and/or a prayer with that verse in the comments area below for your prayer partner.
Remember, there is no certain way to do it. What we want to do is get into the Word, and get the Word into us, and into our prayers so we can experience the power of Praying God's Word together.
According to Random Integer Generator (Timestamp: 2008-07-23 00:43:32), the winner of the book Dear Jesus is #231 comment (C-Mom)
C-mom, I don't have your email. So I hope you find this. If not, I'll have RIG choose another winner on Wednesday. We would love to hear how God is answering our prayers, so be sure to let us know if you have a praise to share.
I LOVE praying for you and reading how you are praying for each other. It's a beautiful thing to see women from all around the world gather in Jesus' Name to encourage, support and carry each others' burdens. My prayer is that your courageous renderings of your heart desires and personal needs will forge friendships despite miles that separate us because of God's Spirit that connects us!
Today I wanted to share about the power of praying God's Word. My prayers used to feel kind of flat. I didn't really know what to say and I stumbled over my words a lot. I especially didn't know what to pray when I was struggling or when friends were going through really hard times. I wanted my prayers to be filled with power, hope and faith to believe that the God I was talking to was big enough to accomplish the things I was asking for.
Soon after I became a Christian, a friend who was mentoring me taught me the power of praying God's Word. She shared that when we pray God's Word, we pray God's will. I really liked that idea. It gave me a sense of confidence and God's direction.
The Bible tells us that God's Word is alive and active. When we pray in agreement with His Word, we pray in agreement with God's will, expecting it to come alive in a specific situation and active in the person's life that we're praying for. Here are some verses that I like to pray for myself or for a friend:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give ___________the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that ____________may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of _____________'s heart may be enlightened in order that ____________may know the hope to which he has called her, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 1:17-20
May the God of hope fill __________ with all joy and peace as ___________trusts in him, so that _______________may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
So, what is a verse you could pray for your prayer partner? If you want to find a verse on a specific topic, go to this page on BibleGateway and click on Keyword in the left margin, then type in a keyword you want to search on. (For instance, if I had typed in hope, the two verses listed above would have come up.) When you type in your keyword and hit enter, several verses will come up and you can choose the one that best fits. Then come back and post the verse and/or a prayer with that verse in the comments area below for your prayer partner.
Remember, there is no certain way to do it. What we want to do is get into the Word, and get the Word into us, and into our prayers so we can experience the power of Praying God's Word together.
According to Random Integer Generator (Timestamp: 2008-07-23 00:43:32), the winner of the book Dear Jesus is #231 comment (C-Mom)
C-mom, I don't have your email. So I hope you find this. If not, I'll have RIG choose another winner on Wednesday. We would love to hear how God is answering our prayers, so be sure to let us know if you have a praise to share.
Please pray that my husband will find God-centered, gainful employment soon. He has been out of work since November and he is feeling quite defeated at this time.
Pray that our family's faith will remain strong and that we continue to trust in Him each day to deliver us through this situation. We pray that my husband will find a job that he will glorify Him through.